Pearl (Rosefernverse 2)
by flootzavut
Summary: Sequel to Operation Rosefern, currently the 2nd story in the main canon of this storyverse. Written for the "Hetty brings Gibbs bourbon" challenge on NFA. Hetty and Gibbs have a slightly combative chat about what has happened since the end of Operation Rosefern.


**_PEARL  
_**

* * *

**_GIBBS_**

He was working in the basement a few hours after they'd said their goodbyes, taking out his displeasure on the wood by shaving off strip after strip. Usually it was the kind of activity that calmed his mind and helped him think clearly again, lost in the soothing _schhhh, schhhh_, but today it was not working. He understood the reasons for Kate's posting to Pearl, but that didn't mean he had to like it. The image of her looking small, looking incredibly young, but still striding into that transport as if she owned it...

The plane skittered across the surface.

"Damnit."

A fingertip confirmed the damage. The wood carried the scar of his frustration. He swore again as he carefully set the tool down on his workbench and then thumped a fist down next to it, ignoring the sting as a splinter of wood cut into his skin.

"I see I am just in time to witness a tantrum."

He swung round at the voice, hand automatically reaching for his gun.

A small pair of feet continued their descent of the basement stairs, and he relaxed a little as Hetty Lange came into view. Very few people could enter his house without alerting him, but from the stories he'd heard over the years, it made sense that Hetty would be one of them.

She paused at the foot of the steps and dipped in her bag to retrieve something which she then held out to him.

He glared at her offering. "That supposed to soften me up?"

Hetty looked down at the bottle in her hands and then back up at him with a grin. "Will it work?"

He took it from her and examined it, keeping his reaction under tight control. It was a particularly fine bourbon that was a world away from his usual cheap rotgut, but he was in no mood to be placated. "No."

Hetty nodded. "I thought not." She walked casually over to the threadbare couch, sat down, folded her hands in her lap. "I suppose it's just as well, then, that I didn't bring it to try and bribe you, don't you think?"

Gibbs grunted.

"You know that it's for the best."

He shot her a look. "According to who?"

"According to whom."

He almost growled. Judging by her expression she wasn't remotely contrite, nor at all concerned by his obvious anger.

"Okay, according to _whom_? Whose bright idea was it to send Kate so far away from everyone she knows? All the people who care about her?"

"It was mine, as I'm certain you're well aware, Agent Gibbs. Corroborated by our operational psychologist, by her sister Rachel, even by Caitlin herself."

This time he didn't hold back the angry harrumph. That Kate had gone willingly was not a comfort.

To his annoyance, Hetty merely chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Forgive me, but one doesn't live to my age in this business without developing a rather thick skin. You can glower at me all you like. It doesn't intimidate me in the slightest, but if it makes you feel better..."

He narrowed his eyes at her. She remained irritatingly unmoved.

"It would make me feel better if you _asked_ before messing with _my people_."

"Your people? Caitlin has been in Eastern Europe for quite some time. Naturally you are concerned for her, but she hasn't worked with you for almost seven years. Agent David took her place. You are not in a position to offer her a job. Not this time."

Gibbs stopped short for a moment. He hadn't expected Hetty to know the unorthodox way he'd recruited Kate after her resignation from the Service. Being able to handpick his team was a privilege he'd earned, but it wasn't something he cared to advertise.

"So what?" He shrugged. "She's an agent, a profiler, a good shot. Plenty of people be interested in her skill set."

She had a point about his team, sure, but there were other options. Kate's reappearance might not be common knowledge, not yet, but he could and would change that if it meant she wasn't posted halfway to Japan.

"Maybe so, but few of them could give her the kind of job she needs."

"What do you know about what Kate needs?" He was no longer even trying to hide the fire in his words. "She was back among friends and family, and now -and now..."

"What she needs is time." Hetty wasn't presenting him with arguments to convince him. She wouldn't consider that necessary. No, she was simply stating the facts in that quiet, gentle, oh so calm way that made him want to hurt somebody. "Time, and space, and counselling. All of which she will get in a far more relaxed environment, where she can be useful, where her skills are needed, but where the pressure to recover from all she has been through will be minimal." Hetty cocked her head to one side like a little bird, her eyes bright as she looked at him. "You know as well as I do, Agent Gibbs, that DC is no place for recovery."

He humphed again, scowled. He had to concede there, though he wasn't about to say that out loud.

Deliberately turning his back to her, he twisted the lid off the bourbon and poured himself a generous inch. It went down in one gulp, and he had to reluctantly admit, just to himself, that she had purchased well.

"So your solution is _Hawaii_?" Sarcasm leant bite to his words. "Never heard of Pax River? Quantico? _Norfolk_?" He picked at the worn surface of the workbench with his thumbnail, clamped his mouth shut before he said more than he had intended.

"What's wrong with Hawaii? I dare say Agent Todd deserves a little sunshine and _aloha_ more than most. She needs some peace. A chance to readjust to America. To recuperate. Time to find herself again and come to terms with everything that happened to her. I don't doubt your good intentions, of course, but she has faced rapid and extreme changes. She does not need either to be coddled, or to feel rushed-"

Gibbs took a breath to interrupt but Hetty ploughed on, giving no quarter:

"-I know, I know. You would not sabotage her recovery on purpose, of course. However, she is still intensely loyal to you and to your team. You would not need to push for your presence in her everyday life to impede her progress."

There was... something to that. He topped up his bourbon, letting the glug of the liquid briefly fill the silence and muffle the uncomfortable thoughts it held. Yes. Hetty was probably right. He almost hated her for it.

"It's so damn far away." The words got out before he could stop them, and in the still of his basement they sounded loud even though he spoke almost in a whisper.

"Are you angry because she is no longer your coworker, or because she will be in Hawaii?" Hetty's quieter tone mimicked his own, and he wondered whether that was empathy or skill. "Has it occurred to you that you also need time and space to sort out your reactions and your-" she paused for a moment "-feelings?"

He was glad he wasn't facing her. The woman was too perceptive. Excellent quality in an operations manager, annoying as hell when she'd inserted herself into his basement to hassle him.

Fact was, he was still processing Kate's return. Heck, they all were. What else was going on in his head right now was not something he wanted to inspect too closely. All he knew for sure was that now she'd reappeared, he didn't want for her to fly across the country and then some. He wanted... No, it wasn't just him, it wasn't. They all wanted her nearby. To see her. To catch up. To make up for lost time, to welcome her back into their lives. They wanted, needed her to be ready for that right now, and she wasn't. Their need was selfish, he knew, but that didn't make it go away.

He topped up his glass and took another swig of bourbon. It was much smoother than he was used to, and now even that was bugging him. He wanted to feel the burn of it in the back of his throat.

"I just want her to be safe."

Hetty laughed. "Agent Gibbs, DC is not a safe place. Even if you were to shadow her every waking moment. Oahu has its share of criminals, but she will be much safer there than she could ever be here."

Her amusement ignited a flare of anger. "Who's gonna be watching her six?" he demanded, swinging round, crossing the room till he was towering over her. Kate's safety wasn't just about her location. If something happened to her because the people around her were careless or... "Tell me. Who's going to look out for her? She's- she's- family, she's part of our team, we-"

"Jethro."

That stopped him in his tracks. He shouldn't have been surprised she'd know his given name, but he was.

"I promise you, Caitlin will have people watching her back. Good people. Her NCIS teammates at Pearl, of course, but not only them." She grinned. "I still have contacts on the islands, you know. One doesn't like to boast, but I was very popular there once upon a time."

The mischievous look on her face, her coquettish tone - he couldn't help it. Just for a moment the façade cracked and he let out an involuntary bark of laughter. "That so?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Why don't you pour me a paint jar of that rather fine bourbon and we'll have a talk about it?"

He stood over her for a few more seconds, then sighed. She'd won and she knew it. "If something happens to her, or your 'good people' don't look out for her, or-"

"You'll have my head for a trophy?"

"If you're lucky." He tried to sound as menacing as possible, but she just chuckled, not remotely abashed.

"You'd have to catch me first."

He rolled his eyes and gave her a halfhearted smile. _Should know better than to try and threaten Henrietta Lange._

Her smile softened as she studied his face, and she reached up to clasp her small hands around his large one. "Agent Gibbs, if you will allow me to reassure you: I have every concern for Caitlin's well being. She will be looked after as if she were one of my own. You have my word."

There was a long silence, and then finally he nodded, swallowed hard against the sudden constriction in his throat.

"Okay. Okay."

She gave his hand a squeeze and held on for a few seconds longer before releasing him. "Good, so that's settled." She sank back into the couch, leaning on one elbow as if she'd often made herself comfortable there, and gave him a calculating look. "Now be a dear and get me a drink, and then maybe I'll tell you how Governor Denning came to owe me a rather large favour. Not to mention dinner at Sasabune the next time I'm in Honolulu. Just remember, if anyone asks, you didn't hear the story from _me_..."

_~ fin ~_


End file.
